COURSE STRUCTURE
The underlying aim of this course is to prepare you to co-create or support the production of imaginative, impactful, meaningful arts-based interventions in collaboration with participants, external partners and audiences.
From the outset, your focus is on the development of an independent project which utilises participatory creative practice. This could, for example, include: a cultural or heritage project designed to provide participants with agency over their identities; a workshop or series of masterclasses held in schools or the community to educate through participatory discovery; arts-based research into how people understand a particular space or building, or research designed to inform creative processes or activities themselves.
Culminating in a fully conceptualised project, you’ll undertake a journey of self-discovery which takes you through the principles and processes required to devise collaborative arts activity, such as funding sources, logistics, how to establish a contract with an external partner, or how to manage conflict and contestation in your work.
The MA Creative Practice can be studied as either a one-year full-time or two-year part-time course, with start dates in September. You will complete 180 credits, comprising one optional module (30 credits) and five compulsory modules (150 credits).
Core Taught Modules
SEMESTER 1
CPA-40001 Collaborative Working: Theory and Methods (15 credits)
Drawing on recent work in the field, this module introduces you to key theories and approaches in arts-based participatory practice, deepening your theoretical and critical understanding of creative practice and research. Studying various practices and approaches, including cultural animation, walking art and geopoetics, it covers some of the challenges, for example, in creating a common purpose, distributing leadership or holding partners to account, and how to overcome them. You’ll learn more about how to plan and deliver partnership work, taking account of ethics, regulatory compliance and legal frameworks.
HIS-40017 Research Skills in the Humanities (15 credits)
You will receive training in the practical and technical skills necessary for postgraduate research in the humanities, so you will be able to plan, then find and use the necessary resources for your research and writing. This includes: relevant University regulations; procedures for managing a research degree; the differences between popular press dissemination of research and academic forms; how to identify issues of research ethic affecting your work; and how to use real-world and digital archives and be creative in looking for primary research sources, such as film archives, digitised magazines and pamphlets, first editions of out of print literature. You will also develop essential personal and professional skills in time, stress and project management.
SEMESTER 2
CPA-40003 Collaborative Working: Practice and Evaluation (15 credits)
This module introduces you to a range of recent, ground-breaking collaborative arts-based interventions using a variety of arts-based methods, including creative writing, public heritage, public history, visual methods and ethnography. Examples includeThe Poetry Pharmacy, Circling and Decommissioning the 20th Century. This is supported by planning practice sessions covering project planning, grant applications, resource management, ethics and health and safety documentation. The goal is to help you devise imaginative and impactful arts-based practice, giving you the tools to overcome some of the challenges posed by shared projects and develop the skills for team working and collaboration for all forms of creative practice.
HIS-40016 Reflective Practice in the Humanities (15 credits)
Reflective practice describes a systematic approach to reflection that involves creating a habit, structure and routine around reflecting on our experiences and engaging in continuous learning. Whether you choose to learn from experience as an individual or with others, there are many benefits to be gained from sharing ideas, experiences and considering how you can change or improve your creative practice. Throughout this module, you will be asked to explore the intellectual connections between your research area and wider fields of study. We look at ‘big ideas’ relevant to contemporary society, such as the concept of ‘post truth’, ‘big data’ and the pulling down of statues, and we work to understand them from the perspective of our disciplines.
SEMESTER 1, 2 AND 3
CPA-40005 Creative Practice Independent Project (90 credits)
The project is your chance to apply the skills and understanding you develop during the course to conceive, devise, and deliver an independent, real-world research project and demonstrate your understanding of the legal, ethical and governance dimensions of conducting arts-based participatory research and practice. You begin planning your project from the start of the course, giving you time to develop your thinking and allow for research and experimentation. You’ll be supported by a programme of workshops to help assess the feasibility of your ideas and establish what needs to be done to realise them. Projects may involve collaboration with other students and external partners and you have the freedom to choose your own medium, be it writing, creative media, heritage, music, pottery, photography, human geography or anything else. Graduates from this School regularly share their different art forms within the community via locations as diverse as car boot sales, train stations, primary schools and the back of a converted ambulance.
